The Fairies of the Spirit World
by Novacaine Nightingale
Summary: I wrote these story installments as a special surprise for my friend's birthday. It plays off previously established ATLA and TLOK canon without altering those stories at all. You don't need to know anything about me or my friend to understand what's going on in the story, there aren't any inside jokes. Take a look. Don't judge this by the description!
1. Into the Spirit World

**Into the Spirit World**

As he stands at the base of the swirling yellow portal, Griffin can't help but feel a sense of awe.

After all, it's only been two years since Avatar Korra accidentally created the Republic City spirit portal during her dramatic final battle with the tyrant Kuvira, and most people still marvel at its beauty even today. Tourism in the city has reached a high point since then, with people from all over the world coming to see it up close, and even go through to the other side. Before its existence, if you wanted to see a portal or visit the Spirit World, you had to go to either the north or south poles, neither of which were an easy trip to make unless you were one determined bastard.

Now? All you have to do is make it to Republic City, which is a hell of a lot easier to accomplish.

Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, Griffin takes a step forward, becoming bathed in the pale yellow light. He can still see Republic City around him, and a group of tourists nearby looking at him curiously. Apparently, people actually going into the Spirit World is just as interesting as the portal itself.

Suddenly, though, the entire scene outside the portal begins to vibrate and blur. Colors bleed together, and soon everything he was just looking at moments before is an intangible mess. The sounds of city life vanish, all except for the portal shifting around him. It's like a towel rubbing against his eardrums.

This is soon replaced by different colors. More _vibrant_ colors. The dark, mute tones of Republic City become blooming magentas, haunting blues, and deep greens. These colors morph and change as well, but these ones become more clear and solid, taking form instead of losing it.

Griffin moves forward, the portal now behind him. He finds himself standing in an open field. The ground is made of dense, purple flowers, and the field is surrounded by seafoam green glaciers. It's stunning, and he's left speechless by it all. It's unlike anything he's ever seen before.

Already the Spirit World is so much different than his own, and he's only stepped one foot inside it so far.

Taking another deep breath, Griffin begins to walk. He doesn't know where he's going, but he keeps the portal behind him, trying to maneuver in a straight line so he doesn't get lost. He only plans to stay a couple hours, maybe a few at most. He's heard stories about how dangerous and strange this place can be, but he figures if he stays close enough to the portal, he should be fine.

Besides, Avatar Korra wouldn't leave the portals open and for public use if she didn't think it was safe enough for people to visit. Right?

It's as he's trying to climb over one of the green-tinted glaciers that he thinks about his parents, and how they wouldn't approve of this little journey of his. His mother, born and raised in the middle ring of Ba Sing Se, is a professor at the university. She'd understand his reasoning for coming into the Spirit World, but she still would have protested had she known. His father, on the other hand, might have even offered to come along with him. He was born in Omashu, and spent most of his younger years travelling the Earth Kingdom. That's how he met Griffin's mother. And although his adventurer spirit is still there, under the surface, his mother has a tendency to persuade him into her view of things. So in the end, he would have sided with her firm _no_.

Not that he really _needs_ their permission or anything. He's an adult, studying at the same university his mother works at. If he wants to fly to Republic City on a passenger airship, explore the Sprit World, and write a paper on it for his class's final assignment, then that's his business alone.

He's been walking for about ten minutes now. He glances behind him quickly, just to make sure he can still see the portal in the distance, but he doesn't see it. Freezing, he realizes that he can't even see the green glaciers he climbed over either. _That doesn't make any sense_ , he thinks to himself, glancing around. He's been walking in a straight line over flat ground.

 _It's the Spirit World. Things don't always make sense._

Taking a deep breath, he starts to walk back the way he came. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen. Twenty. Still no sign of anything he recognizes, which means he's lost in the Spirit World, where apparently landmarks shift and you can end up in a completely new area without meaning to.

He just has to remain calm. He'll find a way out of this. Maybe he'll come across a spirit soon and instead of wanting to eat him, it'll offer to help lead him back.

It seems like a longshot, but what else can he do at this point?

Griffin keeps walking. He walks until his bag begins to feel heavy and his shoulder protests from the strain. He's been moving nonstop for an hour, and the idea of resting is getting more and more inviting. It's only as the ground under him becomes lumpy and uneven that he actually considers it. A look down confirms that, somehow, he's ended up in a sandy area. The sand itself is a brown color that somehow shimmers blue in the light. Don't ask him how.

He decides to sit down underneath a nearby tree. The bark is deep brown with green flecks embedded in it, almost like jewels. It towers above him, at least fifteen feet high, and the leaves are glittery and clear. Ice, he realizes. The leaves are made of ice.

His situation might be shit, but at least he's got a nice tree to relax under.

The second Griffin bites into his sandwich, everything feels a lot better. His stomach groans as he chews. He didn't realize how hungry he actually was until right in this moment, and now he's glad he stopped to chill. He brought along two sandwiches, a couple homemade pastries, and a canteen of water. It seemed a bit much while he was packing, since he only planned to be here a little while, but now he's glad he did it.

He's reaching for his canteen when his fingertips turn to ice.

Griffin yelps and jumps to his feet, shaking his hand. The ice remains there, coated around his fingers, freezing the skin. He hears a tiny giggle above him, but when he looks up, he doesn't see anything.

"Who's there?" He calls, squinting. The ice is reflecting the light right into his eyes, so he can't see anything or anyone up there, but he knows he's not alone.

Another giggle is all he gets in response at first, but a few seconds later, the ice encasing his fingers melts away like it never even existed.

"Enough of that," a voice chides.

"Don't tell me how to live my life." A different one responds. Both voices sound female.

The first one sounds more pressed now. "You can't just freeze the boy for no reason!"

"I do have a reason!"

"And what is it?"

"He's defiling our tree."

"He's _eating_ under it, it's not a crime."

Griffin just stands there awkwardly, listening to the two voices bicker above him, unable to see who they belong to. He's really, really confused, and not sure if he should grab his bag and make a run for it. It might just make things worse if he draws their attention back to himself.

"I don't want him here!" The second voice sounds way more agitated now.

The first, however, is a lot calmer. "We never get visitors. You're just grumpy because it's the last day of winter for you. You always get more irritable during the final week. You _know_ that."

Neither of them speaks for a long moment. Finally, the second voice sighs, and grumbles: "Fine. I won't kill him— _yet_."

Some leaves rustle. Griffin takes a step back. Suddenly, a small thing drops out of the sky and lands in the sand. _Plop!_ It takes him a second, but he realizes it's a person. A tiny person. A fairy, from the looks of it. A fairy spirit? He's only ever read about them in books, but he's sure that's what she is. Regardless, she has green wings, a pale yellow dress on, and bright red hair. Her eyes are big and green and her smile is wide and welcoming.

"Hello!" She says. It's the first voice.

"H-Hi." Griffin stammers out, looking confused.

"Dang, you're _cute_." The fairy trills, flapping her wigs and floating up into the air. She moves closer to Griffin, her eyes roaming up and down his body. He realizes a second too late that she's checking him out. "I'm so glad I convinced her to spare you. Sis, come down here! He's got this whole _smolder_ thing going on."

Griffin hears the second voice groan. The leaves rustle once more and a second later, another fairy is descending from above. This one is already flapping her wings though, so her entrance is far more graceful than her sister's was.

The first thing he notices about the second fairy is that her eyes cut through him like ice. They're pale, an almost-silvery color. Her wings are clear, almost like they don't even exist, but they're covered in a faded blue pattern that makes them just barely appear. Her dress is periwinkle, and her hair… it's blue. Two different shades though. The top is light, and covered in frost, and the bottom is glowing a deep cyan that makes his eyes throb if he stares at it for too long.

"He looks ugly." Her voice is somehow colder in person.

"Don't be that way!" The first fairy scolds her sister before turning back to Griffin. "Don't mind her, she's just in a mood. She always gets like this on the last day of winter. She's not usually this… frosty."

The sisters give each other a look of annoyance.

" _Anyway_ ," the red-haired one continues. "Are you single? I'm really digging your brown hair, and your _eyes_. It's been a long time since I've seen a human, but I don't remember them being as pretty as you. I know I'm just a fairy, but—"

"That's enough."

"Stop it, Kristianna. Can't you see how adorable he is?"

Kristianna sighs. "Callise, he's a human. Spirits and humans can't mate."

Callise winks at her sister. "Doesn't mean we can't try."

The words cause a shiver to run down Griffin's spine, but he's honestly not sure if it's from embarrassment or disgust. Not that the fairy's _bad_ looking, it's just… he's just—

He takes a deep breath to steady himself. "I'm a bit lost… I was walking through a field and I got turned around. I need to get back to the new spirit portal so I can return to Republic City. I was only meant to be here for a couple hours… do you think you'd be able to help me get there?"

Callise's smile doesn't falter as she speaks. "Of _course_ we can help you."

Kristianna rolls her eyes. "But that doesn't mean we will."

"Yes it does."

" _Callise_."

" **Kristianna**."

The two sisters stare at each other for a few long heartbeats before Griffin clears his throat to cut the tension. He doesn't really know them, but he gets the feeling that if these two actually wanted to, they could tear each other apart, and as selfish as it sounds, he needs them to help get him back to his own world. After that they can pretty much do whatever they want.

To his surprise, it's Kristianna that breaks the silence this time, and what she says goes against Griffin's entire impression of her. "The new spirit portal is a stone's throw away. The Spirit World has a tendency to fold in on itself and shift things about. We can take you there… later."

"We just have to do a little something first," Callise chimes in, as if that'll make things better somehow.

"What do you have to do?" Griffin asks.

Kristianna doesn't respond, she just flutters her wings and floats back up into the icy leaves. Callise glides over and sits on the ground at the base of the tree, next to where Griffin was eating his sandwich. She pats the ground, and he sits back down too, careful not to squish her with his firm little ass.

"My sister and I are nature spirits." Callise begins, breaking off a piece of Griffin's sandwich with her tiny hands. Just that is like an entire full-sized one to her. "She embodies winter, and I embody summer. That's why she's been so icy with you—our personalities tend to reflect whatever season we're holding at the time." She takes a bite of her mini-sandwich.

Griffin's intrigued by the story, but there's something bothering him about this whole situation. "Why are you telling me this? I mean, your sister doesn't seem too impressed by me being here… you don't owe me your entire back story."

The fairy spirit shrugs. "Like I said earlier, we don't get many visitors. Spirits tend to avoid us because of what we are. We're like them, but we're also different, we're more… mysterious, I guess. Most spirits fade over time, our version of death, but not us. We're connected to the seasons, so as long as they go on and we don't get hurt beyond repair, we can go on forever. Most other spirits don't like or understand it, so we live in our tree, on our own." She glances at said tree, and for the first time, Griffin sees it for what it is: It's the perfect blend of both their seasons. The trunk, so alive with its deep colors, and the leaves, icy and clear. It's somehow more beautiful now. Callise continues: "That's why I'm so thrilled you're here! You're new, and exciting… and to be honest, even though she'll never admit it, Kristianna's happy about that too. You think we annoy each other any less when you're not around? Ha! She's glad to have someone else around too."

There's a bit of sadness in her little green eyes. Griffin thinks up a joke to tell, to try and lighten the mood—something about a waterbender and a Fire Nation princess—but before he can get it out, she cuts him off. Her voice suddenly feels different, older. As old as she probably is, burdened by the memories of thousands upon thousands of years. "There were more of us once. Shaylida and Babelle, our other two sisters, autumn and spring respectively. When Vaatu tried to rise to power the first time, they became corrupted, and were destroyed in one of the battles against early humans. It's been the two of us ever since."

He doesn't know what to say, so he just sits there in awkward silence, processing.

When she finishes her sandwich, she's back to the flighty and flirty Callise that he's come to be somewhat afraid of. "So, Kristianna and I have this small thing to do, and then we'll help you get back to the mortal plane! Who knows, maybe we'll even come with you! It's been ten thousand years since I've seen what humans have been up to. Are the lion turtles still around? I had a fling once with the one who gave your kind the air element…"

Griffin's not sure what she's talking about, but luckily for him, that's when Kristianna makes her return.

She drifts down and grabs Callise's hand. "It's time. We only have minutes left."

Griffin raises an eyebrow. Once again, he's completely lost.

Callise turns to him. "Don't worry, we'll only be a few minutes! After that, we'll take you right to the portal like we promised."

"Or you can go without us, if that's easier for you." Kristianna's words seem nice, but her tone completely ruins it. It's clear that she'd rather he not be here when they get back.

"Wait! I have an idea!" Callise chimes in, looking excited. Again. "He can watch us! Oh, it's been so long since anyone's seen. Can he, Kristianna? Can he?"

Kristianna looks like she wants to murder them both, but she knows that protesting will only lead to a debate that will take too long to finish. They'll miss the deadline if they stop to bicker now. They're window is always so small. "You are _so_ lucky we don't have time for this," she hisses at Griffin. "Come on."

The two fairies fly around to the other side of the tree, hand-in-hand. Griffin follows slowly, not entirely sure that he wants to see what's going to happen. But on the other hand, despite his situation, he came here to observe the Spirit World. He came to get information so he can write his final paper. Whatever's about to happen, he believes it might just be the special something he was hoping for.

On the other side of the tree is a small mushroom. It's red with white spots, and the top has been flattened. Drawn on that surface is a circle with four pictures in it, one on each end: A music note, a piece of cake, a book, and a pair of socks.

Callise lands on the piece of cake. Kristianna stands on the music note.

Almost immediately upon doing so, the circle begins to glow. The outline burns white, the cake yellow, and the music note blue. The book and socks don't light up at all. The two fairies close their eyes. Griffin wants to ask what's going on, but he gets the impression they wouldn't hear him even if he did speak. They're in their own little world right now, doing this… magic spirit stuff, whatever it is.

Kristianna's body erupts in blue light. Callise's does the same, but yellow. The color drains from each of them, moving downward, and into their symbols below. The color then drains into the outline of the circle, each color moving along the opposite side to the opposite sister. The blue light heads toward Callise, and the yellow to Kristianna. It pools at their feet, inside their respective symbols, then floods upward, until Callise is shimmering blue and Kristianna is blazing yellow.

Which is a fancy way of describing that they switched colors.

When the light fades, the sister spirits are entirely different.

Kristianna exhales. Her now-dark brown hair falls over her shoulders. Her eyes, a dazzling copper, blink as if they haven't seen the light of day in centuries. Her skin is flushed, no longer pale, and her once periwinkle dress is now red with a sunflower pattern. She looks like a different being altogether. She radiates warmth.

Callise has also changed. Her hair, once a striking auburn, is now a piercing blonde. It's so light and fair that it's almost white. Her eyes, green before, are now purple pools of darkness, almost black. A chill runs down Griffin's spine as he looks at her. Her dress is redone as well. It looks like shards of ice frozen together. Clear, but not giving anything away.

At the sight of them, Griffin can't help but feel slightly underwhelming in his worn pants and faded Earth Kingdom sweatshirt.

"W-What happened?"

Callise lets out a chilling breath. "We switched seasons."

Kristianna gives him an inviting smile. It feels so genuine that it throws Griffin for a loop. "Don't worry, we do this all the time. Every six months, to be exact. It keeps things… interesting."

The two sisters send a sad look down at the circle beneath them. Griffin suddenly understands what it means. Each picture represents one of the original four sisters from the story. Two of them didn't light up during this ritual today, because, well… because of what Callise said happened to them in the past.

Before he can comment though, the two sisters are right in front of him. Callise perches herself on his left shoulder, causing it to become cool, and Kristianna sits on his right, sending warmth through his body. The contrast feels so strange.

"Hurry up and pack your food, boy." Callise says, probably sounding more rude than she means to. It was already revealed before that their personalities reflect their seasons, so she's bound to be a very different Callise than the one he first met. "We've got to get you to that Spirit Portal," she finishes.

The packing takes about a minute, and then the two fairies lead him away from the tree and back into the thick of the Spirit World. They guide him through two forests, a field, and across a lake before finally stopping to argue with each other about which one of them is wrong. It's so strange to listen to them, because Callise is calm and orderly while Kristianna rants and raves. The change in them is drastic. Eventually, though, after an unfortunate run in with an angry tree spirit and a near fall into the Fog of Lost Souls, Griffin spots green glaciers and the top of the Republic City portal vanishing into the sky.

"I guess this is where we say goodbye." Callise says, pushing off his shoulder.

"I gotta say," Kristianna adds. "Having you around wasn't entirely terrible."

Griffin smiles slightly. He's still not used to her being nice to him.

"Well, it's back to the tree for us."

"And good luck with your assignment!" Kristianna tacks on.

Griffin watches as the two sisters link arms and begin to float away.

The portal swirls behind him. He can't help but think about what they're going back to: A tree that, while so beautiful, is also so very isolated. Other spirits don't visit them, and they're constantly reminded about what they've lost because of that dumb mushroom: Their sisters, spring and autumn, destroyed. The constant back-and-forth between winter and summer, with only each other for company, must be horrible, really. Cool, but horrible. They might not see it because they've been living that way for so long, but it's no way to live. Not for humans, and not for spirits.

"You know…" Griffin calls after them. "… Callise might have had the right idea. You can always come with me to the human world. Many other spirits already have."

They both pause in mid-air, slowly turning around.

Griffin flushes a little bit. "You don't have to, but to me it seems a lot better than going back to your tree—which is lovely, don't get me wrong, I just think… I don't know, that you might like the adventure. We don't have to stay together or anything once we go through, but… look at me, I left everything I know to come here, even if only for a few hours. My dad told me once that it's better to try something new and go strange places than to die in the same place you started."

Kristianna and Callise stare at each other, as if having an entire conversation through their facial expressions alone. In the end, they both smile at each other.

"I'm in if she is." Callise says.

"Of course I'm in. I want to see what became of the fire elementals."

"She always had a soft spot for them," Callise whispers to Griffin.

Kristianna blushes furiously. "I did not—shut up!"

Callise laughs, landing on Griffin's shoulder. "I suppose your foods have changed over time. I always enjoyed the fruits in the eastern isles. I wonder if they still grow there…"

"East… that's probably the Earth Kingdom." Griffin explains.

Callise stares at him blankly. "Those words have no meaning to me."

He laughs. "Don't worry, I'll explain. The world is divided into nations, one for each element…"

Kristianna shrugs. "Doesn't sound much different than it did ten thousand years ago."

The inner scholar in Griffin is excited. Not only is he going to be able to show them the modern world, but they also know so much about the past. They can offer insights to the past that otherwise only the Avatar can do, and she's much too busy to sit around explaining the past so it can be recorded. She has so many problems to deal with. The last Griffin heard through the rumor mill, Avatar Korra was on her way to deal with some Fire Nation dilemma. He's not exactly sure what, but after the Hundred Year War…

It was before his time, sure, but even he's wary whenever the Fire Nation kicks off, no matter how small.

Griffin is pulled out of his thoughts by Callise snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"Come on, boy. We ain't got all day here. Let's go!" Again, she probably doesn't mean to be, but she sounds annoyed with him. He's not used to the frosty attitude from her yet.

Griffin takes a deep breath, his signature move at this point, and steps back into the portal. He's only been here a few hours, but he's leaving the Spirit World with so much more than he bargained for. The yellow light spins around them, mixing the colors of the Spirit World into intangible blobs, before vanishing entirely and being replaced with the familiar shapes of Republic City.


	2. A Tale of Four Sisters

**A Tale of Four Sisters**

By the time Kristianna gets to the lake, it's too late.

Shaylida's already in the water, bobbing up and down like a cork. Babelle's sitting on a nearby rock, playing with the icicles in her long, black hair, and Callise is mid-cannonball.

None of them see her yet, so she takes a moment to steady herself. She specifically asked them not to jump in the water until she arrived. It's all she asked, and because of that they agreed last time that if any of them were running late, the rest would wait before diving in and having fun, but did they listen? Obviously not. They never listen.

After a few calming breaths, she flies out from behind the bushes.

"There you are!" Callise shouts, waving her arms enthusiastically. Her wavy brunette hair is almost black now from the water. It always get so dark when it's wet.

"About time…" Shaylida chimes in. She's drifting on her back now, and doesn't even look in Kristianna's direction. She hasn't changed out of her dress, which is made from grass blades. Her dark golden hair billows out in the water all around her head.

Kristianna glares. She loves her sister, she does, but whenever Shaylida embodies summer, she acts like a spoiled brat who's better than the rest of them. She knows it's not Shaylida's fault. Each of their personalities shift when they embody a different season, that's just how it is, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

"I stopped to get these," she replies evenly, holding up the fruit for Callise to see. Callise responds by squealing loudly and flying out of the water, making a beeline straight for her sister. "I was passing by the eastern isles on my way, and I know you love these, so I thought…"

"I love you so much!" Callise shouts gleefully, scooping up the large purple fruit in her arms.

Kristianna smiles awkwardly as Callise kisses her cheek and flutters off to devour her snack.

It's a horrible thing to admit, but she feels closer to some of her sisters than others, but not all the time. It's strange, because every six months, they essentially become different versions of themselves, and sometimes those versions don't get along very well. Currently, Kristianna is embodying the season of spring. Her hair is light green and her eyes glitter gold. This version of herself doesn't get along with the summer version of Shaylida, but gets along really well with the autumn Callise and the winter Babelle. In turn, winter Babelle and autumn Callise don't even talk to each other, while both of them get along swimmingly with summer Shaylida.

It's all very complicated, but it's something they've lived with for thousands of years, ever since they all blinked into existence.

Not that any of that matters right now. Not today. Today is the day that's exactly six months from their last seasonal swap, which means these current versions won't be together for that much longer.

"Does everyone know what season they want this time around?" Kristianna asks, following her train of thought out loud.

Callise nods, mouth full of fruit. She swallows quickly. "I want summer. It's been forever since I've touched a plant that didn't start changing color immediately. I want to make things come more alive."

"Same here." Babelle chimes in. "I'm tired of being so cold. I want spring, if that's okay with everyone. I love my spring look best."

"That actually works out really well because I'm okay with holding winter for a while. There's nothing quite like being able to make your own sledding course."

Shaylida sighs from across the lake. "I guess that means I'm taking autumn from Callise. Wonderful."

Callise frowns. "There's nothing wrong with autumn, Shaylida. Besides, your autumn dress is gorgeous! It's literally made from yellow and red leaves. You're always a knockout as autumn!"

Appealing to Shaylida's vanity, that's always a good move when she's in her summer form.

"Hmmph. Fine." Shaylida replies.

The four of them don't spend a lot of time together. It was different, centuries ago. They were inseparable, but as time goes on, especially when you're immortal, you can't help but get tired of being around the same three people. Pair that with other spirits not wanting to be around you out of spite and jealousy, well… it sounds awful, but it's just fact. Kristianna doesn't love her sisters any less, and she knows it's the same for them, they just… like to branch out, nowadays.

But they still see each other here and there throughout the months, and they _always_ meet up for the seasonal swap. Always. Its tradition, and no one wants to break it. Every six months, on the solstice, they perform the ritual that's been a part of who they are since the beginning.

Kristianna's sick of thinking about the past though. It doesn't matter. They're all together now, for today, and that's what's important. "Has anyone drawn the circle yet?"

All three of her sisters shake their heads.

 _Lazy asses_ , Kristianna thinks to herself as she floats over to a small clearing beside the lake, close to where they've been hanging out. Grabbing a stick off the ground, she begins to draw the circle, making sure that it's perfect and not uneven whatsoever. Then comes the symbols.

Shaylida, the book. In all of her forms except summer, she loves to sneak onto the backs of the various lion turtles and read human literature. Most spirits either look down on the humans or ignore them entirely, but not Shaylida. She thinks they have immense creativity and potential. She tries to get the rest of the fairies to read too, but none of them have really taken an interest. Her borderline obsession with reading prompted her to have her symbol changed a couple centuries ago. Before that, it was a stick with a leaf on it.

Callise's symbol has been the same since nearly the beginning: A slice of cake. There was this very inventive spirit way back when who created the first one, and Callise could smell it from all the way across the Spirit World. Everyone could, and many flocked to its source, but Callise was the fastest. She was the first person in the history of ever to try cake, a fact which she boasts about even to this day. She had her symbol changed to cake shortly after that.

Babelle's symbol is a pair of socks, and has been since the start. It symbolizes her love for animals, specifically deer. She came across one once that was entirely brown, but with white feet, like it was wearing socks. She instantly fell in love with it, and kept it as her pet until its natural lifespan ran out. Kristianna still remembers how long her sister cried over losing that deer. Sprinkles, Babelle had called it. She ended up naming one of the earth's oceans after it, the Sprinkles Sea, but the name didn't really stick for anyone besides her.

And finally, herself: A music note. She chose this for herself because, a very long time ago, back in their early days, she sang songs. So many songs, endlessly. Her sisters used to complain that she'd sing more than she actually spoke. The truth is, not to sound conceited or anything, she was good. _Really_ good. Other spirits used to flock to her when she sang, laying in the grasses of the Spirit World and egging her to continue. There was this one song in particular that she created, that even her sisters enjoyed. She hasn't thought about it in centuries. Something about dragon flies—

"Are you done yet?" Shaylida asks, floating in the water next to the clearing.

Kristianna looks up. For the first time today, she doesn't feel annoyed by Shaylida's snark. "You know, I was just thinking… if we all swap to the seasons we talked about before, then it'll be the first time we've all been in our original forms at once in at least a few centuries."

Shaylida processes this information for a seconds before responding. "Yeah, I didn't even realize…"

"Can you get the others? The circle's done and our window for doing this is always so small."

Surprisingly enough, Shaylida agrees without making a sarcastic comment, and swims off to get the others, using her wings to propel herself forward.

The four of them have been switching seasons for so long that sometimes it's easy to forget where it all started. The mortal plane and the Spirit World weren't always connected to one another. The dark spirit Vaatu did that a very long time ago by breaking through the barrier dividing them, and the second he did, he indirectly caused the creation of Kristianna and her sisters. The spiritual energy from their world fused with the natural balance of the earth, and in turn, created new spirits that encompassed both sides. The four seasonal spirits were born from that mixture.

Kristianna remembers the first moment her consciousness came to be. She woke up, floating on a chilly breeze somewhere over the northern half of the planet. She could feel her sisters, scattered across the globe, but of course at the time she didn't know that. She just knew there was something out there, and that she needed to find them. She drifted through the skies, for how long she never knew, until the four of them converged on a mountainside.

Babelle, the spring spirit; Callise, the summer spirit; Shaylida, the autumn spirit; and Kristianna, the winter spirit. Their original forms. The connection between the four of them was instantaneous. Somehow, Kristianna knew they were _meant_ to be together, and the feeling seemed to be the same for all of them.

They spent the next few years getting to know each other, and keeping balance between the seasons. The weather bended to their will. Only slightly, but enough to keep the seasons evenly spaced out. Their powers just _came_ to them, along with the knowledge on how to use them. Everything was easy. Everything was fun. In the end, they erected a small castle on top of the mountain where they first met, and lived there together for a long time.

The first seasonal swap was _such_ an adventure!

It's lost that initial wonder over the years, though.

Babelle and Callise wander into the clearing, Shaylida right behind them. Without a word, they all come to a stand on their corresponding symbols. Kristianna is the last to step in the circle, and as she does so, both Babelle and Shaylida hold out their hands for her to hold.

The circle begins to glow. This process, while doing something so powerful, is actually so simple. As long as the sisters are standing in a drawn circle on the solstice, their seasonal energies will automatically bleed out of them and move down the line, until each sister has successfully switched and taken a new form. It's not that complicated.

Kristianna exhales as the calming essence of spring drains out of her. She can feel the same reactions from everyone else. It's in this brief moment, that she's nothing—that they're _all_ nothing. It only ever lasts a few seconds, but it's so strange. So foreign. While the seasons shift through the outer line of the circle, none of them are any season. They're just spirits, existing, floating in nothingness. Some might say, if they really want to get philosophical with it, that this is the only time the four of them are in their true forms. They are without the seasons that dictate their personalities. This might be the only time that they are truly… well, them.

But as the freezing winter chill creeps up Kristianna's spine, causing her to gasp, all those thoughts vanish from her mind. She can already feel herself changing, shifting, and moving away from the spring version of herself. She feels winter's harsh anger and its unforgiving nature consume her.

When the light fades, she looks different. She's got fine blue hairs hanging over her eyes. She brushes them away, momentarily surprised by how pale her skin is. It's always a little bit disorienting when she takes a new form.

"Finally!" Callise squeals, floating up into the air. Her hair is red now, and whips around in the breeze. "I'm so _warm_. Ugh, I missed this. I should just stay summer for the next century."

"No! I want summer next." Babelle cuts in, as if Callise is taking away her favorite toy. She pouts, tucking a strand of bright orange hair behind her ear.

"Guys, it's fine, we'll deal with that in six months." Shaylida says, floating over and patting Babelle on the shoulder. "If you're still bothered at that time, then you don't have to switch. You can hold onto spring for another six months. Like when Callise insisted on being winter for two years that time. Remember?"

Her words seem to work, because Babelle visibly softens. "Okay."

This is the Shaylida that Kristianna gets along with the best in all of her forms. In her autumn form, Shaylida is calm and collected, intelligent and caring. She knows the right the thing to say at all times and her forethought is something Kristianna admires. She's much more pleasant like this than when she embodies summer.

"Hey, what's that?" Callise says. The other three sisters look over to her. She's standing at the edge of the clearing now, her feet in the water. Across the lake and over the treetops is fire. It blasts into the air and vanishes a moment later, over and over again.

"It could be a spirit." Babelle says as they all drift over. "Maybe Argos, or that other one who's literally _made_ of fire. What's his name again…? Right, Jimmy. It could be Jimmy."

"No… the fire's much too erratic…" Shaylida squints. "It _could_ be the humans… the ones from the fire turtle?"

Kristianna shakes her head. "No, we're much too far from him. The humans only ever stay close to their turtle when they're out looking for food."

"How do you know that?" Babelle asks.

Callise snickers. "She spends a lot of time over there… she has a soft spot for the fire elementals."

Kristianna blushes, as best as she can when she's holding winter. "I do not! Shut up!" When Callise only laughs harder, she blushes even more.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them begins to shake. Not that it really makes a difference since, you know, they're fucking floating and all, but as the trees quiver and the lake water vibrates, the four sisters start to grow restless and scared. What's causing this?

As the earth stops shaking, black tendrils now are seen flapping above the flames, making the entire scene even more strange and freaky. It doesn't make much sense.

"Okay, that settles it, I have to know what's going on over there." Callise dashes forward, jetting across the lake at full speed.

Kristianna shouts for her to stop, but she doesn't listen. Babelle's the second one to move forward, chasing after Callise. Kristianna and Shaylida glance at each other begrudgingly before going after them. This isn't the first time Callise and Babelle have gotten them into some sort of trouble because of their insatiable curiosity. If only there were time to rehash the whole "Let's see what happens if we enter the Fog of Lost Souls" fiasco.

By the time they catch up, Callise and Babelle are standing behind a tree, peering out at a path that's full of life. On one side are the humans, dressed in rags and bending fire, and on the other side is spirits, enraged and screaming. Above them hovers something that Kristianna never thought she'd see up close—a spirit so renowned and feared that she made sure never to cross his path: Vaatu. She's only ever seen him from afar, right before she'd hightail as far away as possible, and he was always in the dominating embrace of his sister, the light spirit, Raava.

There's no Raava here.

But there is a man, with long black hair, screaming at the two sides. He's too far away for Kristianna to make out what he's saying, but it sounds important.

"I heard rumors…" Babelle whispers. "I heard that the dark spirit Vaatu had been separated from Raava, but I didn't think… you know how gossipy tree spirits are, I just thought… it wasn't real."

"Well apparently it is." Shaylida replies, looking unnerved. "And we shouldn't stick around to find out what comes next. If Vaatu's free, that's all the more reason to steer clear."

Kristianna agrees, and grabs Callise's arm. "Come on, let's go." She tugs her sister back, until they're all the way back through the bushes. The last she sees, Shaylida's trying to prompt Babelle back as well, but their sister doesn't seem to be having it. She's too interested in what's going on, and Shaylida's getting irritated. But Kristianna keeps going because if she doesn't, Callise will just get sucked back in.

"You _know_ being near Vaatu is a terrible idea." Kristianna chides once they're back near the water. "That thing is evil beyond our greatest comprehensions, and without Raava keeping him in line, he's even more dangerous!"

"I see you've taken to winter already." Callise mutters bitterly as she crosses her arms.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that whenever you embody winter, you become a bitch. You lose you sense of fun and wonder, and you just sit around judging the rest of us. At least when Babelle is winter—"

"You hate Babelle when she's winter! You literally ignore her the entire time!"

"—she's tolerable, but you?" Callise huffs. "You act holier than thou. You can be even more insufferable than Shaylida in her summer form!"

Kristianna gasps. "Take that back!"

"Make me."

Kristianna's about to do just that, but she doesn't. She doesn't because she's just noticed that Shaylida and Babelle haven't caught up to them yet. They've had time to stand here and bicker, which means… something must be wrong. Maybe Babelle has decided to be even more stubborn than usual. She can be like that, in spring.

"We don't have time to argue, let's go help Shaylida drag Babelle back here—and don't even _think_ about stopping to watch again."

The two fairies move back through the trees in silence, ignoring each other. When they reach the tree where Kristianna last saw her sisters, all she sees on the path beyond it is chaos. Spirits, _dark_ spirits, are fighting against the humans. The humans blast fire, trying to defend, but it's futile. The corrupted spirits are slashing them down one by one. Blood and entrails stain the gravel below them.

Callise whimpers and folds in on herself. Before Kristianna can say anything, she watches as her sister points towards the madness.

There, slashing apart humans like their nothing, are Shaylida and Babelle.

But it's not _their_ Shaylida and Babelle.

They've been corrupted by Vaatu's dark energy. They've grown taller, their forms glowing and pulsating with dark magic. They don't look like Kristianna's sisters anymore. Their wings are blood red—which, Kristianna realizes, is due to them _actually_ being covered in blood. Babelle is using hers to slash human limbs off. The gleeful squeal that erupts from her is horrific. The man from before, the one who was yelling, is nowhere in sight.

Kristianna can feel Vaatu's power from here. It radiates all around, corrupting the spirits and twisting the humans' emotions. _He's feeding off the destruction_ , Kristianna realizes. When the fighting started, his powers must have surged, corrupting Shaylida and Babelle, who were still too close. Kristianna and Callise had been out of range, and therefore spared.

Callise tries to fly forward, but Kristianna holds her back. "No! We can't go out there, if we get too close we'll be corrupted too… we just, we have to…" She doesn't know what to do. If they sit here, then their sisters will continue ripping people apart, and when Vaatu leaves, they might be returned to normal… only to remember the things they've done. If they jump out there to fight though, they risk being changed as well, and that saves no one.

Shaking, she holds Callise in place, and the two watch in horror as the fighting continues.

It takes a long time, but eventually the battle ends. What remains of the humans is scattered across the ground. The trees are singed from the flames, and many spirits have been destroyed. The rest took off. At one point, both she and Callise lost sight of Shaylida and Babelle. The fires were too high, and it became too hard to see through them.

The two of them step out from the forest once they're sure Vaatu is gone. He flew off not long before the battle wrapped up, and his leaving seemed to wind things down. Now, as they stand in the wreckage, all they do is cry. Kristianna's hot tears cause steam to rise off her cool skin.

"Do you think…" Callise whimpers. "Do you think they were destroyed?

Kristianna shakes her head defiantly. "N-No… they have to be around, somewhere… maybe they ran off into the forest, and are turning back to normal… we'll find them."

"But Kristianna, I can't… I can't _feel_ them."

Kristianna discovers this to be true. Ever since the four of them came into this world, they've felt the same connection between them. It's what first led them to each other from the far corners of the world. It's what's kept them bonded all these millennia, even when they decided to spend time apart. They could always feel each other, sense one another's energies, but now…

The only presence Kristianna can feel is Callise's.

They search for a very long time. They fly through the entire forest, both scanning it relentlessly for their lost sisters, but in the end, they turn up nothing. There's just no sign of them.

"We should go north." Kristianna says as the sun peeks over the horizon, signifying a new day. They've been out searching all night. "They'll go to the castle when they don't find us. They might even be there now, waiting. I know we've not all been there in a few hundred years, but… that's where they'd go. Shaylida would insist."

Callise looks doubtful. Kristianna knows that Callise has already accepted that both their sisters are gone, destroyed either by the dark magic that corrupted them or by the fire from the humans. Kristianna's not that easy to convince, oh no. She knows her sisters are out there, somewhere, and they'll find their way back, no matter what.

And so they make their way to the castle, now buried under three hundred years' worth of vines and vegetation. It's not really a castle so much as a hobbit hole built into the cliff side. It was carved for them by the earth lion turtle, who Babelle was having a fling with at the time. Babelle first called it a castle because even though it wasn't one, it felt like one with them all of them in it. She loved to name things…

 _Loves_ , Kristianna corrects herself. _She_ loves _to name things_.

The "castle" is made up of several rooms. The front room has soft cushions everywhere and lanterns hung up on the ceiling to look like stars. Shaylida came up with that. There are five rooms that branch off that main one: A storage area where they used to keep all their food, and personal rooms for each sister. Kristianna's room has a small pool in it, where she used to float when she wanted some time alone. Now, though, said pool is empty, and the room is covered in dust.

Apparently animals have used the place in their absence because she keeps finding makeshift nests and bones strewn about. It doesn't take long to clear, though.

The two of them stay there for a few days. A few days turns into a couple weeks, and from that, about a month. With every day Callise falls more and more apart, while Kristianna becomes more and more convinced that their two lost sisters will return to them.

"You need to stop this." Callise says one morning.

"Stop what?" Kristianna asks, raising an eyebrow.

"You have to let them go, Kristianna. Please. We can't keep doing this. You flutter around here talking about… about…" She takes a deep breath, trying to hold it together. "You keep acting like they're coming back, that there's still hope… but there's not. We haven't felt their connection since that day. They're g-gone."

"Shut up." Kristianna snaps. "Just stop talking!"

"No! I can't keep living like this!" Callise screams. "It's driving us apart! You're so focused on waiting for them that… that you've left me to mourn them on my own! I can't do this on my own. _It's killing me_."

Kristianna's entire body starts to shake. She's being confronted with truths she doesn't want.

Callise is sobbing. "I _need_ you to snap out of this… I can't… I'm not good at being the rational one, not when I'm summer… I know it hurts but I need you so bad. I can't lose the last sister I have left…"

That does it. Kristianna's resolve shatters and she sinks to the floor, sobbing. The full weight of what they've lost is finally crashing down upon her. Shaylida and Babelle are gone. It's like losing a piece of your own heart. Yeah, they didn't always get along, but they were _sisters_ , and now…

Callise holds Kristianna while she breaks down. She holds her long after that too. For the first time since it happened, they're both finally leaning on each for support.

After a while, Kristianna starts to remember something. A train of thought she hasn't thought about in forever. There's a memory underneath her grief, and she reaches out for it. She doesn't even have to struggle pulling it out, it just comes to her in full force, like it was never gone to begin with.

Still holding Callise, Kristianna begins to sing.

" _And I remember, dragon flies_ …" Her voice is shaky, unsure of itself. She hasn't sung in a very long time. This particular song, even longer. " _I remember… dragon flies… I thought they would hurt me, but they just flew by_."

Callise looks up, her eyes sad but glowing with a small glimmer of excitement. "I haven't heard that… in so very long," she whispers.

As more words pour of Kristianna's mouth, her voice becomes stronger, and she's reminded of the first time she sang this song. It was in a meadow somewhere, the only light coming from the fireflies in the sky above them. She sang, and Shaylida held her hand while Babelle danced with Callise in the background. It was the perfect night.

A night none of them will ever have again.

" _Don't worry, they won't really hurt you, they'll just fly by_ …"

Not long after that, it's declared that the spirits are to return to the Spirit World, by someone called Avatar Wan, whoever that is. Apparently he has something to do with Raava the light spirit, but Kristianna isn't really bothered to find out more. She and Callise bid farewell to their castle and, along with all the other spirits, head into the Spirit World. Neither of them protest. They just want to get away, to leave the world that took their sisters from them.

Once inside, they find their own little corner to hole up in, creating a magical tree using the powers of their seasons. Both summer and winter blend together to make it so. This will be their new home.

The spirit portals are soon closed, and neither of them look back.


	3. They Came Home on the Wind

**They Came Home on the Wind**

Callise has never ridden in an airship before. She's seen them, but she's never been inside one. When they first arrived in Republic City through the spirit portal, Griffin said they should take one back to his home city, but the idea scared Callise more than anything. Kristianna seemed okay with the idea, but Callise… it just freaked her out.

They spent their entire first night in the human world floating around the city with Griffin as their guide. He explained as much as he could about the things they saw, but none of it really sank in for Callise. Everything was so new, so strange, and it nearly sent her into sensory overload. Kristianna handled it a lot better. She asked tons of questions and Griffin was happy to answer them. Callise just followed behind, trying not to scream when a loud noise appeared.

Her only comfort that night came in the form of food from something called a "street vendor." She had fries, made from something called _potatoes_ , covered in "gravy and "cheese," whatever those were. They were delicious, and it made her feel better. Callise has always been driven by her stomach.

"Come on, Griffin. Just try some!" She waved a fry in front of Griffin's face. To him it was tiny, but to her it was like holding a staff or a cane.

Griffin looked away, his expression contorting in disgust. "No, I'm good, really…"

"Come on, boy." Her tone was snippy. She knew it, and he knew it, but unfortunately that was just how winter worked. "The guy at the stand said it's a delicacy from the _Fire Nation!_ How can you pass that up?"

"Oh, leave him alone, Callise! Let him chill out." Kristianna piped up, playing with a strand of her brunette hair. Her summer form was easily distracted by small stuff like that.

Yes, that first night certainly was a clusterfuck of new information, and food could only steady her for so long. Soon enough they were on a train to Ba Sing Se, in the Earth Kingdom. She's come to understand the layout of the world since then, at least in that regard, but at the time she had no idea where that was. Griffin took them to the university there and they met his mother, an awkward woman with a big nose. She didn't seem to like it when Callise told her just that.

They've been in the human world for just over seven months now, with a brief return to the Spirit World last month so they could do another seasonal swap. That means the fun and flirty summer Callise is back in action! It also means the grumpy and complain-happy Kristianna has returned too, but you can't always win.

And now they're on a Future Industries airship, on their way to the Northern Water Tribe. Ever since coming back with Griffin, their presence has completely changed his life. Because of the information they've been giving to the university about the past, dating back to the days before even the Avatar line existed, they've become sort of a team. They travel all over the world now with Griffin, unearthing ruins of civilizations long gone. In the last few months alone they've helped him uncover the sunken ruins of the first fire lion turtle civilization, and a spirit temple that sunk so far down into the earth that they had to have a team of earthbender specialist excavators clear the way down nonstop for five days. All of that was made possible by the fairy's knowledge of the old world.

Now they're on the way to show Griffin an abandoned oasis that was once the biggest hot spot for spirits back in the day. It was located in the north, and even though the oasis itself is most likely long gone, the site it once stood is probably still brimming with spiritual energy. Apparently Avatar Korra is always looking for more spiritual locations. She took a _special_ interest in their plan.

She even dropped by the university personally last week to hear more about it. She spoke to Griffin directly, who acted totally foolish, like he was meeting some kind of god or something. Callise guesses, in a way, he was. She and Kristianna were even a little bit excited. They wanted to meet Raava, but unfortunately, the spirit didn't make a personal appearance, so they both lost interest pretty fast, and spent the entire time braiding each other's hair while Griffin fumbled over his words and blushed furiously non-stop.

"I made Griffin buy you some more gravy fries," Kristianna says, floating down into the seat next to her. They're both small enough to fit on the same one. "I know you're freaked out."

"I am _not_ freaked out." Callise replies, but her tone sounds clipped, and her hands are clenched together tightly in her lap. Her knuckles are turning white from the strain. "I'm just… I don't understand the idea of airships. We can fly, on our own, without all this… noise, and… busy-ness. Can we not just fly on our own and meet him there?"

Kristianna smiles, which Callise appreciates. When you're holding winter it's not always easy to put aside your own chilly bitterness to try and help someone else. She knows it goes against Kristianna's nature right now. "You know for a fact that's not a good idea."

Callise sighs. She just wants to be travelling by the power of her own wings, and not trapped inside a metal monster that somehow _flies_ , without magic. It all feels very unreliable.

Griffin chooses that moment to arrive with her fries. Callise breaks off a piece of the closest one and nibbles on it, immediately feeling better. Not great, but better. She still wishes she could have some fruit from the eastern isles, but when Griffin tried to find them on a map, they couldn't. His best guess is that the islands either reformed with the mainland or sank, much to Callise's dismay.

Maybe one day she'll go on her own to try and find them.

"We should be arriving in the Northern Water Tribe sometime tonight. Just a few more hours, Callise. You can do this." He says. She appreciates his effort too.

She swallows her fries and sighs. "Look, I'll be fine. I just need to keep eating and not think about it."

Griffin nods. "Okay, so let's talk about something else. Why don't you run through the story of the oasis one more time?"

Kristianna sighs. "We've already told you like ten times."

"It doesn't hurt to hear it again."

She groans, and Callise shrugs. It's better than dwelling on all of their impending deaths inside this flying metal deathtrap. "The Oasis of the spirit Carn. He was a big deal once. He had control over water. Not major, but enough to create an oasis that never stopped flowing. The magic keeping the water flowing transformed the spot into a spiritual haven. All that power in one place? Spirits were naturally drawn to it. It was one of many spots all over the world. It ended up being a sort of spa for the spirits. According to the books you showed us on Avatar Wan, he encountered a place like this too, only Carn's was before even that."

Griffin nods, knowing literally all of this already. Callise sighs.

Kristianna must pick up on her sister's wary attitude, because she continues the story from there. "The oasis ran for maybe a hundred years or so. During that time, Carn became… very bitter, and resentful. He hated that so many people were using his oasis, and he decided he wanted it to end. He tried to undo the magic that kept the water flowing, but over time it had become something much stronger than he was. It resisted being undone, but Carn was persistent and kept pushing, which led to…"

"The entire oasis collapsed in on itself." Callise finishes. "The guest structure collapsed and was swallowed by the water, which froze over afterwards. I doubt the wreckage is left after all this time, but the spiritual energy most likely still does. That stuff doesn't fade over time, it lingers forever, unless something interrupts it."

"Which is doubtful, seeing as the Northern Water Tribe is a few miles away from where the oasis sat, and there seems to be no other civilizations nearby." Kristianna takes one of Callise's fries, which earns her a glare.

"That's why we need to go out there, to find out for ourselves. Hopefully we'll be bringing good news back to the university." Griffin says, leaning back in his chair and stretching out.

Over the months, the three of them have become pretty good friends. Callise loves it, but that also makes things problematic, because she's constantly struggling between her friendly feelings for him and her carnal desire to lick the entirety of his body with her tiny fairy tongue.

Too explicit?

Luckily, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, that's the moment the airship hits some turbulence. Callise screeches bloody murder as she's flung from her seat straight into the air. Kristianna manages to grab an armrest to keep from soaring. Instinct takes over and Callise's wings flutter to life, bringing her to a standstill mid-air. She sighs in relief, only to remember why she can't fly in this thing: Because _it's_ also flying, and as she floats in place, the entire thing moves out from under her.

She remembers this too late, and a wall ends up slamming straight into her.

Callise falls to the floor. Her entire body aches. Griffin scoops her up in his hands and asks if she's okay, but she's too dazed to answer. There are blue spots in her vision.

"That… _really_ sucked," she manages to choke out. She hears Kristianna giggling in the background.

 _Note to self_ , Callise bitterly thinks to herself, _remember to punch_ her _in the face when she's not expecting it. See how much she likes surprises_ …

Griffin sets her back down on the seat. She's feeling less sore already, but damn that was awful, and all it did was remind her that she's still in an airship and death is something that's entirely possible. She might be immortal because of her connection to the seasons, but that doesn't make her invincible. She's convinced that this thing will be the end of her.

And then Kristianna will have lost three sisters.

 _No_ , she tells herself. _Don't think like that. You're summer right now, you're supposed to be having fun and not having a care in the world. Now's not the time to dredge up those feelings_ …

She takes a deep breath and finally opens her eyes, glancing at her food. It suddenly doesn't seem very appetizing to her anymore. She almost wishes she could ask Griffin to take them away without it coming off as rude or hypocritical, since she pressed him so hard before to try some.

"Do you think you can open the window?" She looks at Griffin.

"I don't think we're allowed to really—" He begins, but upon seeing the fed up look on Callise's face, clearly decides better. "Uh, yeah, I'll give it a shot, but I'm not making any promises that it'll actually open, or that we won't get yelled at by the stewardess."

Griffin stands up and begins fiddling with the window.

Kristianna floats up beside him and looks out the glass. "Hey, what's that over there?"

"Hmm?" Griffin mumbles, distracted by the lock mechanism on the window. "Oh, that's the Northern Air Temple… or what's left of it, I suppose. It was destroyed a few years ago by a lavabender working to destroy the Avatar. The Air Nation has tried to restore it as best they can in the years since, but a lot of the inside of it is still actively burning, so they can't do much."

"Looks a little bit familiar." Kristianna says absentmindedly.

"I doubt it. It was built long after you went into the Spirit World." Griffin finally makes headway with the lock. It snaps back, and the window slides open a crack. "Ha! Finally." He sits back down.

Callise is about to make some comment about how much of a _big strong man_ he is, but her voice doesn't quite make it. Instead she lets out a sort of choking sound, her eyes widening as the full force of it hits her. _It can't be_ , she thinks. Her thoughts are buzzing, her mind racing.

She glances at Kristianna, but she's just staring at Callise like she's crazy.

"Don't you _smell_ that?" Callise asks, her voice shaking slightly.

Kristianna's nose crinkles with confusion. "Smell what?"

Callise sniffs the air. It's gone, but she's so sure she… it was there, it had to be. There's no way her mind would make up something like that; there's no way it'd play such a cruel joke.

Her eyes travel to the now-open window, and she understands. Without as much as a word her wings flap wildly, and she springs straight for the window. She ignores Griffin and Kristianna's cries of protest as she soars through the opening and into the freezing air.

The second she's in the air, her wings give way. It's then that she realizes the extent of her injuries from before: Her left wing is sprained. Not broken, but damaged enough not to be able to fly. It doesn't really hurt, and had she stayed in the airship, it probably would've healed by the time they reached the Northern Water Tribe, but she _didn't_ stay in the ship, so now she's plummeting to the ground hundreds of feet below.

She lets out a fearful scream as she falls. Her red hair whips around her face, blinding her, and her limbs flail wild and desperate. _This is how I die. Not because of the airship, but because of my own impulsiveness_ —

Her body jerks to a stop. Her arms and legs flail for a seconds longer before her mind catches up and she realizes that she's not falling anymore.

"You—owe me—big!" Kristianna chokes out as she struggles to keep both herself and Callise in the air. "What were you _thinking?_ "

Callise notices that Kristianna's flying them back towards the airship, which has moved quite a fair distance in the time since she jumped, but she knows that Kristianna will get them back to it if she doesn't do something to stop it. With that in mind, she begins kicking her legs to slow her sister down.

"What are you _doing?!_ Stop that!" Kristianna bellows.

"No! We can't go back there!"

"I know you're scared of it, but we need to—"

" **NO!** " Callise screams as loud as she can, putting as much force behind it as physically possible. It takes Kristianna by such surprise that she stops moving, just hovering there, staring at Callise with confusion and shock. "We can't go back to that airship, we have to go…"

"Have to go _where_ , Callise?"

Callise looks around desperately. Her thoughts are still moving at the speed of light, and it's hard for her to put her thoughts into focus. Finally, though, her gaze settles on the smoldering ruins of the Northern Air Temple.

"There!" She points. "We have to go there."

Kristianna glances at the ruins and then back to Callise, her expression something like: _Seriously?_

"I know it's crazy, but you have to trust me here. Please, Kristianna. We have to. I wouldn't have jumped out of the airship if I didn't believe with all my heart that going there is important."

Her sister sighs. "Does this have anything to do with what you _smelled_ before?"

Callise looks confused. "I… I'm not sure, I think so. Please. We can't stay in the air forever anyway, and the airship's too far gone for us to catch up now."

One glance into the distance and Kristianna sees that she's right. The airship is vanishing on the horizon, taking them far away from Griffin and their mission to the Northern Water Tribe. Grumbling, she begins to steer them towards the Northern Air Temple. Callise lets out a sigh of relief. She's getting what she wants. She knows Kristianna thinks she's nuts, but she doesn't care, because she knows going to that place is important. She just does.

They land on the cliff's edge a few minutes later. Kristianna collapses to the ground, breathing heavily. "I think you need to cut back on the fries," she grumbles.

"Nonsense." Callise replies, climbing to her feet. Even from here, on the lowest part of the cliff, she can smell the burning rocks. The entire place reeks of smoke and death, but it somehow feels right being here. She can't explain it. She doesn't want to, not yet. She has to make sure that her suspicions are correct before she tells Kristianna anything.

Callise would rather be branded as crazy and impulsive than hurt her sister if she doesn't have to.

"Why are we here?" Kristianna asks, slowly standing up. Neither of them can fly right now; Callise from her damaged wing and Kristianna from exhaustion.

"I don't know," she glances back at the other fairy over her shoulder, and smiles. "But let's find out."

As she walks off, Kristianna shouts after her. "You know I hate it when you get cryptic!"

They wander around the cliff side for a long time. Most of it is charred black from the lava, and being so small, every single piece of debris from the collapsed temple is like having to climb over a mountain. Kristianna's fed up almost immediately, but Callise manages to remain upbeat pretty much the entire time. However, there's something about it that feels false, even to Callise herself. She feels like she's just putting up a front to keep Kristianna from figuring things out, and they both know it.

It's only when Kristianna nearly topples over into a stream of lava that she snaps.

"Callise, what are we doing here?" She stomps her foot. Literally stomps it.

"Whoa, temper tantrum much?" Callise crosses her arms defiantly, like a petulant child.

"I just don't get this! It doesn't make any sense. We should be with Griffin right now, nearing the Water Tribe, and instead we're here, on a burnt out husk of destroyed human history. You're not making any sense whatsoever, and—"

"We don't have time for this, Kristianna!"

"Don't have time for _what?!_ " When Callise doesn't answer, Kristianna throws her arms up in the air. "See! That's what I'm talking about! You're avoiding my questions. You don't even know why we're here, we're just following some weird-o feeling you had!"

"I—" Callise takes a deep breath. "I just need you to trust me."

"Why should I?"

Callise looks down at the ground for a moment. When she looks back up, she locks eyes with Kristianna. "Because I'm your sister, and I'm asking you to." She turns and starts walking right after that, partially to make a point, but mostly for dramatic flair.

Kristianna glares at her, but follows anyway.

After a while of more walking, more rubble, and more lava, Kristianna starts to hum to pass the time. It's a little melody that she'd been toying around with in her head back when they were on the airship. She's doing it solely to pass the time, but it sparks something inside Callise. A memory.

She counts it out, and as Kristianna reaches this one part of the tune, she sings under her breath: "… _if you ever feel broken, you can crash into me… into me. You're so far from_ —"

Kristianna stops humming. "You remember that?"

Callise looks back at her and shrugs. "I remember all your songs."

She turns around right after that, so she misses the small smile that crosses Kristianna's lips.

"Why did you stop singing anyway?"

"I'm not sure. It just kind of happened. It's like any interest, I suppose. You're really into it for a long time and then one day you just wake up and want to try something new. I just forgot to go back to it, I guess." She sounds a little bit sad, Callise notices.

"Well I'm glad you've come back to it. I always loved your voice."

Kristianna doesn't reply right away, but when she does, it sounds like she's been holding back tears. "Thank you."

Callise continues to move along, and as she does, she begins to wonder if Griffin's okay. The poor boy's neurotic enough to probably think their jumping out the window had something to do with him. She hopes that he doesn't blame himself, or worries about them too much. She does feel bad for leaving him in the lurch like she has, but… she had to do it. It'll all make sense soon, hopefully, and when it does… he'll understand, won't he?

She hopes they _both_ will.

But maybe keeping secrets from Kristianna is a bad idea. After all, if her suspicion is correct, then she really has no right to keep it from her. It involves the both of them equally. She just doesn't want to get Kristianna's hopes up for nothing if she's wrong. The disappointment on Kristianna's face if she's not right will crush her. She'll have to shoulder both their disappointments instead of just her own.

Can she really risk Kristianna's happiness for a suspicion?

For nothing even close to concrete fact?

"You look very determined." Kristianna says, pulling Callise out of her thoughts. "You were lost in your thoughts. I could tell. You had this whole _smolder_ thing going on."

Callise elbows her in the side, jokingly. "Don't make fun of me, okay? He really did at the time."

Kristianna smiles a little bit. "It's okay, I know. He does it all the time and never notices."

Callise looks away, the smile draining from her face. She knows what she has to. She's made her decision. "Hey… I want to tell you why I've been so weird today, with the whole jumping out the window thing and all the secrecy." She has Kristianna's full attention, she can tell without looking. "I think… I think this mountain… I think it's _our_ mountain."

Kristianna's eyes widen. "You mean… our castle?"

Callise nods grimly. "But I don't know for sure. When Griffin opened the window, I smelled… I _thought_ I smelled Babelle. It was so faint, but I could have sworn… I just reacted. I jumped out the window, thinking she might be there, but when I saw the Northern Air Temple, it clicked in. Of course I'd smell her if this was our mountain. Her scent would linger in our castle, you know?"

Kristianna nods, not saying anything. "Back on the airship, I said to Griffin that this place looked familiar. I didn't think about it at the time, I just said it absentmindedly… but you could be right. It obviously looks different, since the human's built on it, but it _could_ be ours."

"I just—"

Callise is cut off by the ground starting to shake. Both fairies look up at the Air Temple just in time to see lava bursting through one of the only walls still standing. As it collapses, swallowed by the heat, it causes the entire mountain to shudder. It only lasts a few seconds, but it was obviously enough to totally freak them out, because both of them only seem to realize right then that they instinctively grabbed each other's hand.

They look at each other and smile. Callise even giggles a little bit. Even when they argue, they still need each other. It's kind of nice to—

Her thought ends when the ground beneath them breaks away, causing both fairies to fall. They scream and cling onto each other for dear life as they descend. Their fall is short lived though, and they slam into a small platform made of rock. It sticks out the side of the mountain, just big enough to stand on.

Both sisters groan in pain. This is immediately followed by Kristianna gasping.

Callise opens her eyes and sees just what caused that reaction from her sister: Right there, embedded in the rock, right next to the platform they've landed on, is a door covered in vines. It's also made of stone, so you wouldn't notice it from above, but right here, on this platform… they're so close that they can even make out the symbols carved into the stone: A book, a piece of cake, a music note, and a pair of socks.

"This _is_ our mountain!" Kristianna jumps up and down from excitement. Callise joins in, and the two of them practically scream from joy. "I can't believe it's still here!"

"Well? What're we waiting for? Come on!" Callise reaches for the door and pushes against it. It puts up a fight, but after a minute or so of pushing with Kristianna's help, the stone door gives way and slides to the side, causing the two tumble into their long forgotten castle.

The first thing they notice is that the lanterns on the ceiling are lit. They twinkle like stars in the night sky.

The second thing they notice is someone calling out from one of the personal rooms: _Who's out there?  
_  
The final thing they notice, the thing that causes both Kristianna and Callise to watch in shock and horror, is Shaylida and Babelle stepping out into the light from inside their rooms…


	4. The Other Side of the Coin

**The Other Side of the Coin**

"Babelle, come _on_." Shaylida says, her tone becoming very insistent.

Babelle knows she should listen. She knows that, but she's always been too curious for her own good. Callise is just as bad, but Babelle tends to be worse. Callise gives into her curiosity quickly and it burns out just as fast, thus why Kristianna was able to drag her away so easily. Babelle on the other hand is much more stubborn, which is why she's still standing here, watching Vaatu laugh maniacally.

" _Babelle!_ " Shaylida snaps.

Her resolve caves. "Fine! Let's go—"

That's the last thing she remembers before waking up in the snow.

The first thing Babelle sees when she opens her eyes are snowflakes. They fall gently onto her face. Her entire body aches, but she manages to get up into a sitting position. All she can see for miles around is snow. She has no idea where she is, or why she's here.

Her wings are coated in ice, which she manages to break away by flapping them a few times. The harsh climate is messing with her. She's embodying spring right now, so just being here makes her uncomfortable. She's literally out of her element right now. Her wings won't even allow her to fly because they've been frozen all the way through. Hopefully once she's found somewhere warm that'll change…

Her legs shaking, she takes a step forward, her foot brushing against something other than snow. She glances down and yelps. There, sticking out of the snow, are tiny fingers. Somehow, even without seeing anything else, she knows that they belong to Shaylida.

Babelle drops onto her knees, frantically clawing at the snow.

"Shaylida!" She screams, her fingers freezing as she pulls back more snow. When she finally sees her sister's face, it's pale and unconscious. " _Shaylida!_ "

"Hello?" An unfamiliar voice calls out from behind Babelle. "Is someone there?"

Babelle doesn't know who's there, but she doesn't care. Human, spirit, something else—it doesn't matter. What matters is getting Shaylida out of the snow, and she's too tiny to dig this all away fast enough. She needs help.

"Help me!" She cries out. She can't see anyone, but obviously they're there. "Please!"

It takes about a minute, but finally Babelle can see a figure emerging from the snowstorm around her. She doesn't stop digging the entire time, doing her best to free Shaylida from the snow that's keeping her pinned down. _What if she's dead?_ Babelle can't help but think. The thought terrifies her. Are Kristianna and Callise also buried here somewhere? Oh god, what's she going to do?

Someone bigger than her crouches down in the snow. It's a human, Babelle can tell that much, but the person is bundled up in heavy clothes, no doubt to protect themselves from the harsh weather. If only she and Shaylida had the same kind of protection.

"Oh my…" The human mumbles. It's a woman. "Let me…"

Babelle watches as the woman scoops away the remaining snow with ease, her gigantic hands doing so with little effort. She then scoops Shaylida up and holds her in her palm. Her limbs dangle, limp. The sight causes the other fairy to whimper in fear and worry.

"It's okay." The human says. "Here, jump into my hand. I'll take you both somewhere warm."

If Babelle didn't desperately need this woman's help, she would've turned her down. Her spring form is naturally stubborn and paranoid. She's not sure why, neither seems like a trait for spring, but it's not like she has any control over it. She manages to bite back her immediate distrust, though. She does it for Shaylida's sake.

Babelle climbs onto the human's other hand and holds on as she begins to walk through the snow.

Babelle loses track of time. She's not sure if they walk for a few minutes or for over an hour. She's too cold and her thoughts are fuzzy, so trivial things like _time_ get a little muddled. Before she knows it, she's seeing lights through the snow, and can make out the silhouette of houses on the skyline.

The entire village is made of snow. Despite this fact, the inside of the house the woman takes her into is warm and cozy, with a blazing fire. Babelle wonders how it's not melting, but she's not going to question it, because the warmth radiates through her body like a wave. It feels so good, so right.

"Here," the woman says, placing both Babelle and Shaylida down by the fire. She immediately covers them up with her scarf. She stares down at the two of them curiously. "What are you?"

"What _are_ we?" Babelle mutters. Her entire body is shaking. As she warms up, she suddenly feels just how cold she really is. She thought it was bad outside? It's worse now. She was practically numb before, compared to this. "We're spirits, obviously. I should be asking _you_ the questions, like why you're not living on a lion turtle right now." There's no way they're on a lion turtle's back. She would've sensed the being's energy long before arriving here, freezing cold or not.

The woman pulls her hood down, revealing jet black hair, dark skin, and kind eyes. "I have no idea what you're talking about. You _can't_ be spirits, they're…"

Babelle's cold, not stupid. "They're… what?"

"Gone." The woman finishes her last sentence. "The spirits are gone. Our world and the Spirit World are no longer connected. You shouldn't be here. You should be… well, _there_ , with the rest of your kind!"

"What are you talking about?" Babelle's voice betrays her, revealing her inner confused panic.

"The first avatar, Wan, closed the spirit portals after Harmonic Convergence. Your kind went back just prior. There hasn't been a spirit here ever since."

"This doesn't make any sense. Shaylida and I… we were _just_ watching Vaatu on this… path in the woods. There were humans bending fire, and then… and then we were here, in the snow, and you found us. I… I don't know how we got here, or why. It's like when I try to think about it, all I see is darkness. It's like my memories have been taken from me."

The woman shakes her head. "Vaatu has been locked away in the Spirit World for four hundred years."

 _Four hundred years._

Babelle feels a lump form in her throat. For one moment, she entertains the idea that the woman is telling the truth. If she and Shaylida were watching Vaatu and the humans, and then woke up here, and apparently Vaatu's been gone for four hundred years, then that means somehow they've _lost_ all those years. Something happened to them, and she can't remember what.

"If… if it's _really_ been four hundred years…" Babelle says hesitantly. "… then how do you know all this stuff happened? You couldn't have been there." Her mind is searching for holes in the woman's story. Something—anything—to prove to herself that she can't have blacked out for so long.

The woman laughs. "In a way, I was. I guess I haven't properly introduced myself, huh? My name's Tamoa. _Avatar_ Tamoa, if you want to get technical. I might not have been there personally, but Raava was, and we are one."

"Raava…" Babelle recognizes the name, but the memory is a bit fuzzy to her. Her brain still has yet to fully come back from whatever's happened to her. She also recalls Tamoa using this strange word before: _Avatar_. "… The light spirit?"

Avatar Tamoa nods.

"What do you mean that you're one?"

"It's kind of a long story, but I guess we've got nothing else to do. It's hard for even me to fully grasp sometimes. Wan showed me himself what happened, but it's still…" Her voice drifts off, and Tamoa takes a deep breath. She then explains, very briefly, just what the Avatar is. It's a lot for Babelle to process.

Fate chooses that moment for Shaylida to wake up.

Her hair is matted with sweat and her skin is still unnaturally pale for someone holding autumn, but she's alive! Babelle flings herself forward, hugging her immediately, barely holding back tears. Her conversation with Tamoa distracted her from dwelling on Shaylida's possible death, but now that she's been reminded, she feels terrible. She just left Shaylida next to the fire, not even bothering to keep an eye on her. Just because everything's a mess right now and she's really confused is no excuse for letting her sister slip through the cracks.

"I'm s-so happy you're alive!" Babelle manages to choke out.

"I…" Shaylida clears her throat. A violent shudder going through her body cuts her off. It's from the cold, Babelle can tell. Once it passes, she continues. "Where are we?"

"We have a lot to discuss." Tamoa says, placing a bowl of something hot in front of them. "Take sips of this here and there, it'll help warm you both up."

They spend the next hour talking things through, but it doesn't feel like enough. Shaylida has a harder time buying into the whole "it's been four hundred years since your last memory" thing than Babelle did. She lashes out, screaming and raving that Tamoa is a liar. It takes them a whole five minutes to calm her down. Babelle understands Shaylida's doubts. It's definitely not an easy thing to buy into, but unlike her sister, Babelle just sort of… she just _knows_ it's true, somehow. She can't explain it. It's just a gut feeling.

Shaylida only starts to believe the possibility when Tamoa's eyes light up white, and the two of them get to speak to Raava herself. It's hard not to pretend they're not a bit star struck. Raava's always been kind of a big deal.

"It is true." Raava's voice speaks through Tamoa, without her mouth even moving. It's creepy, but in a cool way, if that makes sense. "Four hundred and three years have passed since Vaatu was sealed inside his prison, and the spirits returned to the Spirit World."

"But Raava," Shaylida's voice sounds more even than Babelle's would've been. She's internally freaking out. This is the _light spirit_. She's like a spiritual celebrity! "That doesn't make any sense. We were _just_ there, and now we're here. So unless we were flung through time…" Shaylida pauses, as if actually considering this to be a possibility.

The light spirit doesn't respond for a long moment. Finally, the light vanishes, and Tamoa takes over. "I have an idea that might help. There's a form of waterbending that helps restore balance to unsettled spirits. Typically it's used against angry spirits, but the principle is the same. Something happened to you both, and bending your energy might bring back what's been lost."

Shaylida shakes her head. "No. I don't trust you. You've been nice so far, but whatever this… _fusion_ thing you have going on with Raava is, it isn't natural. I don't—"

"I'm in." Babelle cuts Shaylida off, earning her a glare. "I want to remember what happened to us, and if doing this gives me that chance, I'm going to do it. Tell me what to do."

She can tell that Shaylida wants to argue, but there must be something in Babelle's voice that convinces her not to. Maybe her natural spring stubbornness is leaking into her tone, who knows, but whatever it is, Babelle silently thanks it. She really doesn't want to argue with her fellow fairy over this. She just wants to get it over with so this mess can be sorted out.

Shaylida huddles by the fire as Babelle makes her way across the room with Tamoa. It's the first time she gets a good look of the place. The walls and ceiling are made of tightly packed snow, so densely patted together that it's almost like ice. The floor is made from animal pelts, and despite it literally being made of the coldest substances, it's quite warm. There are decorations hung up on the walls. Hunting equipment and such.

"Where is this place?" She asks Tamoa as the woman sets her down on a table.

"The north pole." The avatar explains. "This is the home of my tribe."

Babelle watches as Tamoa pulls out a bucket of water from underneath a shelf. Under different circumstances, she'd probably be extremely interested in the dynamics of this _tribe_ , and asking a lot of questions. Instead all she manages to say is: "Cool."

A couple of minutes pass before Tamoa's ready, and then she begins. She moves her hands, bending the water out of the bucket, and swirling it around until watery tendrils are floating all around Babelle. She feels something deep within her start to get scared, like she shouldn't be doing this. This feeling gets more intense with every second, until every nerve in her body is telling her to **run**. But before she can try, the water begins to glow gold, and the feeling is silenced immediately.

Babelle's consciousness becomes blurry. She feels herself floating into the air, propelled upward by whatever the water's doing. Her thoughts are reduced to random words: _Shaylida. Human. Turtle._ _Vaatu_. Her body is weightless, and she feels every single stand of spiritual energy inside her coming to life. She feels something else too, something darker and very deep down, being destroyed. She doesn't pay it much mind. She can't, her entire being isn't capable of that right now.

And then it's over, just like that. The water turns to glowing golden sparkles that float around her as she descends back down onto the table. She collapses, taking a deep breath.

"I stopped the process before it could send you off in peace." Tamoa explains. "You would've been blown into the Spirit World had I kept going, but I think I bended enough to restore your balance. There was something dark inside of you, I could feel it as—"

Babelle lets out a loud shriek. She doubles over, and then she's gone.

When she opens her eyes, Shaylida's above her, desperately shaking her.

"Thank god!" Her sister screams, hugging her. It's the first time Babelle's seen her active today, and it's a good sign. It means her sister's getting better. "What happened?"

Babelle lets out a pained breath. "I remember… I remember everything."

"What do you remember?" Tamoa asks, stepping closer.

" _No!_ " Shaylida screams, holding out her hand. The air in the room stirs, and Babelle realizes a second too late what her sister's doing. A breeze forms from Shaylida, a cool autumn wind which blows the avatar backwards into a wall. A bunch of coats tumble off a rack and fall on top of her.

"Come on," Shaylida says, pulling Babelle to her feet.

"What have you done?" Babelle shouts.

Shaylida looks at her sister, dumbfounded. "She hurt you. She's a freak, and she caused you pain. I'm just defending my family!"

"This isn't defending me! You hurt someone who's only tried to help us ever since she found us! You're _alive_ because of her, and you've—"

"You're mad at _me?_ " Shaylida screams, her entire form beginning to change. Her skin turns dark and translucent, her eyes blaze gold. She's getting taller with every word. "I'm trying to _help_ you, you ungrateful girl. I'm trying to keep you safe, why can't you see that? I will burn the world the ground for you. I will make sure no one ever touches you ever again!"

"She still has Vaatu's darkness inside of her!" Babelle hears Raava's voice shout as Tamoa breaks free from her coat-induced prison.

Shaylida bellows, a sound that sends a chill down Babelle's spine. Seconds later, water encases Shaylida, and begins to glow, just like before. Tamoa's trying to restore Shaylida's balance. All Babelle can do is watch in slight horror as her sister becomes consumed by glowing energy.

And then, unbelievably, Shaylida breaks free of it. The golden water splashes outward, hitting the walls and turning back into plain water. It comes as a shock to all three of them. Babelle realizes something major in that moment: When she was being "balanced," or whatever, she felt something inside of her. Something dark. That, coupled with the fact that she remembers what happened to them, it all sort of makes sense. She had some of Vaatu's dark energy still inside of her as well, only hers was destroyed by Tamoa. Shaylida isn't so lucky.

Tamoa shouts something, but Babelle doesn't hear it. She's too busy being grabbed by Shaylida's dark, corrupted form. Her sister uses her newly extended wings to break a hole straight through the roof of the snow house. Chunks of ice fall down, the snow from the blizzard outside pouring in. Shaylida's dark wings flap, and the two of them ascend into the pitch black night, leaving the avatar and their only source of warmth behind them.

It takes a long time for Shaylida to return to normal. Luckily for them both, this happens once they've left the frozen north pole behind them. They land on an island. Okay, it's not so much an island as it's a bunch of rocks sticking out of the water, but to them it's an island, seeing as they're so small.

"You should have let her finish balancing you out." Babelle says bitterly.

Shaylida's quiet for a long time. "I know."

"I remember what happened to us." Babelle continues. "I remember everything. We were standing by the path, and you were trying to drag me away, but I was being stubborn. The humans and the spirits started fighting, and Vaatu's power surged from the chaos, and it… it _corrupted_ us. It felt like anger. I hated everything around me. I wanted to make people feel as horrible as I felt, and the nearest things were the humans. We attacked them, me and you, and when the battle ended… we fled into the forest."

"What about Kristianna and Callise? Do you remember seeing them?" Shaylida asks, looking shaken. She doesn't remember anything Babelle's describing. How Babelle envies her ignorance right now.

She shakes her head. "The last I saw of them, Kristianna was dragging Callise away. But we… we spent the following weeks corrupted, roaming the world and hurting things. Hurting _people_. We weren't ourselves. When Avatar Wan was sealing the portals, we followed the other spirits to try and and hurt them. For some reason, when Vaatu was destroyed, we didn't return to normal. I don't know why, we just… we've always been different from the other spirits, so maybe that has something to do with it."

Shaylida doesn't say anything, so Babelle continues.

"We were too late. The spirit portals closed and there we were, stuck at the north pole. It must have been the Spirit World being cut off, because a few minutes after that, we turned back to normal. But we were so drained from our time being corrupted… we fell asleep." Babelle laughs, but it's one of annoyance. "We just fell asleep! It's as simple as that. And the snow came down, burying us, until we were so far beneath the earth… we slept for hundreds of years, in something similar to a coma. The only reason we survived is because our seasons protected us for most of us. I'm not sure how we got dug up, but we did, and I woke up first. Tamoa found us, and now… here we are."

"So we really did miss out on four hundred years…" Shaylida sounds distant, detached. "We should go to the castle. Callise and Kristianna would've gone there when we vanished. They're probably waiting for us right now…"

"I can't feel them Shaylida. Can you?" She hasn't noticed it until now, but the connection she's felt with her sisters since their creation isn't there anymore. She can sense Shaylida, but as for the other two… it's like they don't exist. "If they were still in this world, we would. They probably went into the Spirit World with everything else."

Shaylida shakes her head. "No… no they wouldn't have gone. They'd know we were out there, somewhere. They would've waited for us."

"Unless they thought we were dead."

Shaylida looks away. "Or unless _they're_ dead."

Babelle looks at her with shock. "What?"

"You didn't see them once we were… corrupted, right? The last either of us saw, they were walking back through the woods. For all we know they were corrupted too, or killed in any of the decades after. There's no guarantee that…" She takes a deep, shaky breath. "There's nothing to prove we aren't the last two left."

"There's nothing to prove we are either."

Shaylida stays quiet.

"We need to go back and see Tamoa. She needs to bend Vaatu's dark energy out of you." Babelle adds.

"No. There's no way I'm going back there. We need to go to the castle."

"Shaylida, we need to go back to Tamoa. If you're going to revert into your corrupted form every single time you get angry, then that's something we _need_ to deal with!"

"I said no!" Shaylida's wings flutter and she floats up into the air. "I'll be fine. Please, you have to believe me. I'll just have to not get mad. On the solstice it'll be easier. You know what I'm like in spring. I'm a bubbly airhead who grows flowers on everything. I'll stay spring forever if that's what it takes."

Babelle crosses her arms. "Why should I trust you when everything I've seen today says otherwise?"

Shaylida looks down at the ground for a moment before glancing back up, locking eyes with her sister. "Because I'm your sister, and I'm asking you to. Please."

Babelle feels her resolve crumbling. She knows that going back to Tamoa is the best idea, but she can't just say no to Shaylida when she's clearly so desperate. In the end, she agrees that they'll go to their castle, but she makes Shaylida promise first that if anything starts to go wrong with her, they'll go back and have Tamoa do that magical water trick. It's not the best solution, but it's a compromise, and it's not like Tamoa's going anywhere. She'll be around if they need her.

The castle is abandoned when they get there. They can smell traces of Kristianna and Callise, but they're long gone by this point. They can't even tell if the scents are from before the Spirit World being closed off, or after. That's how faint they are.

The next few years pass without incident. Shaylida doesn't revert into her corrupted, evil form, so Babelle's worries fade into obscurity. The two sisters live in their castle, mostly cut off from the rest of the world. As the years turn into centuries, and the humans branch out to cover more of the world, the two of them start leaving their castle less and less. They used to travel here and there together, sometimes separately, going on small adventures, but it never did feel right without Kristianna and Callise. The human's expansion only served as the excuse they were both subtly looking for to stop.

Speaking of Kristianna and Callise, both Babelle and Shaylida, over time, started to believe they were gone. Not in the Spirit World gone, but _gone_. Dead. Destroyed. Shaylida held onto the belief so strongly that neither of the two would've given up so easily and gone into the Spirit World without them. Shaylida believed that the only reason their lost sisters weren't waiting for them is because they _couldn't_. Her belief eventually convinces Babelle, and the two mourn their loss together.

Their seclusion only gets worse when the air elementals move onto their mountain, constructing a palace above them so grand that Babelle eventually stops calling their home a castle. Seeing a real one right over them kills her inner flare for naming things.

After a while it starts to feel like they're just existing, not actually living. They go through the day-to-day motions, making small talk, but soon the two just stop connecting. The only time they ever really spend any real time together is every six months for the seasonal swap, and even that they stop after a while. For about forty years straight they just stay the same. They eventually pick it back up, though, out of boredom if anything.

Things get interesting during the war of the humans. It lasts a really long time, a hundred years, and the airbenders above them are slaughtered early on. Babelle had to hold Shaylida's hand the entire time, keeping her calm. The war above was feeding into the chaotic darkness that still laid deep within Shaylida's being. She almost completely reverted back into her corrupted form, but Babelle acted quickly and banged the back of her sister's head with a rock. It kept her knocked out and herself until the fighting stopped.

They had free reign of the castle above after that. It was interesting for the first few years, but it got boring fast. Good thing too, because eventually earth people move in, effectively ending their free reign. And don't even get Babelle started on when the entire thing fucking burns down a few long decades after that. The lava nearly ruins their home too, but they manage to spare it.

Honestly, the most eventful thing that's happened to them in the longest time is when she steps out of her bedroom to find Kristianna and Callise standing there, like ghosts.

Talk about a mind fuck.


End file.
